Vet's Fees

[LisaP]

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Hi - Last week I took our 3 year old King Charles (Alfie) to the vets as he seemed a little unwell, they said he had an anal gland infection and gave me some antibiotics, they said bring him back a week later to check on him, I did and although he seemed back to himself, they said he still has an infection and gave me more antibiotics & some inflamation drops, on both of these visits I was charged a consultation fee ontop of the expected medication fee, just wondered is this the norm for vets to keep charging for a consultation fee ? As work friends say their vet doesnt charge this for each visit for the same illness in this short space of time ........ I Just wanted to be prepared for my next visit and perhaps think about a re-mortgage LoL !!

If anyone can post some advice I would be soooo grateful

Thanks

Lis

 

[banana]

I normally find that there is an initial consultation fee and then a reduced one if you have to go back?

I would speak to them directly, I am sure they arent the only vet in the area so they ultimately want to keep business!

Welcome to Dog Forum - I am Anna

 

[lurcherman]

agree with banana, same problem 2nd time round normally free apart form drugs, have a word and if they say somethink you dont like tell them you look for another vet. a little story from my old vets, i didnt like them but just used them for boosters and mild problems and i thought there prices wasnt good, since ive moved to scotland i love the vets, mainly women which i wasnt happy about but over the time they have been spot on. 8.out of 10, and the girly vets get a 10 out :thumbsup: of 10

 

[banana]

:lol:

 

[LisaP]

Thanks for your advice, I feel more prepared for this weeks check now !

Lisa

 

[banana]

You now have to give me a picture in return!! :lol:

 

[Dizzyjenni]

My old vets charged an insane amount and were pretty rubbish too!

Make sure you do say something

 

[eingana]

There's no set rule I'm afraid, so if it's your vet's policy to charge for every time you bring them back with the same problem then I'd suggest finding a vet that doesn't do that for future stuff.

Vets aren't like doctors- you can move whenever you want and you can even be registered with more than one of them if you want. Your vet needs you to pay for their wages and if they know that their charging policy is losing them business they will at some point have to reassess that policy.

 

[Oreo]

My old vet used to charge full everytime once they got wind that Oreo was insured.

There service was shoddy and I was regulally waiting over an hour for an appointment in which I booked two weeks in advance.

I felt that they have too many customers for there surgery.

I have recently moved and took Oreo for her boosters.

They took there time to look at Oreo and talk to her and ask about her general health.

I didn't get this once at the old vet.

Vote with your feet, if your not happy give them a chance to change it, if it continues find a new vet that suits you.

 

[lurcherman]

agree with you cadac.

 

[chelynnah]

It's the whole damned if you do damned if you don't thing. At the end of the day I expect if the vet has blocked our time for me that I will pay for that block of time. Perhaps a second visit might be discounted but I don't see why they have to. Vets have to make a living, pay their overheads, pay their staff, pay for the machines they use to diagnose your dogs or pay to outsource to labs etc.

I have 5 dogs. My vets will sometimes discount me on vaccines but I'm always pleasantly surprised when they do. Last year they spent a huge amount of time on the phone with me going over results and options when my girl was diagnosed with bone cancer. I offered to pay for that time and was pleasantly surprised when they refused. Their time is valuable, and if they're using it talking to me while they could be seeing another patient them they are losing money potentially.

My vets aren't the cheapest, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. Their knowledge, sensitivity, mutual respect is worth far more than I pay for either my insured or uninsured dogs.

I had a long chat with them recently about the price of meds and they are as frustrated as their clients that they can't get them as cheaply as some online firms. They are not allowed to buy direct but have to go through an spproved wholesaler. I have seen their cost/buying list, I know what they are paying the wholesaler and I know they are practically making nothing, or sometimes a loss themselves. I also know what some of those drugs cost the wholesaler and THEY are the ones making a huge fortune off a captive audience

I know this wasn't about the cost of meds but that's just an example.

At the end of the day cheaper doesn't always mean better. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and not in such a good way. Of course there are good and bad at both ends of the spectrum so you have to decide what you're happy with. If the service is great, they care about you and your animals and you feel you have a good relationship, then whatever the cost, high or low, hang onto them. They are worth their weight in gold in the tough times. If they don't care and its all about filling the slots and punching the numbers and you don't feel respected or that they care, then again, whatever the cost, high or low, walk away and find someone who will care for you and your dogs the way you feel is appropriate.

When you own an animal the most important relationship you have aside from your family will be your vet. If you don't have absolute faith in them irrelevant of cost then walk away now before you have an emergency. You need to trust your vets in normal circumstances before you know you can trust them in crisis. And if you own a dog, there will be some kind if crisis eventually, even if its just having a long life and needing to make that final decision.

Wendy

Edited for iPhone typos

 

[banana]

I don't know - I so think vets have a captive audience and sometimes do procedures etc that aren't needed and I think many of the follow up appts are also not needed but are a way to generate more income.

Something happened to one of my cats this week, we aren't sure what but it included trauma to her face and head, we rushed her straight to the vet, she was mobile and alert but had a snapped tooth and grazes on her nose and chin with a swelling nose. They wanted to keep her on a drip and xray her, they wanted to observe if she could wee.

I didnt allow them to do this as I felt in my experience that she needed to come home and recover and that I could observe her myself and also with my vast experience of rescue cats and kittens going to new homes, I know that weeing and pooing in a strange place for a cat can take even longer!!

They insisted I needed a follow up appt the next day.

I wasn't going to go as I could see she was okay, but the children wanted me to in case she was dying ( :lol: ) - I was in there 2 minutes and really all I did was make an appt for Friday to have the tooth extracted, she hadn't had a wee at that point and I told the vet I wasn't concerned as she was clearly stressed and had eaten 3 times since the accident.

The vet agreed.... now I paid £34 for that - for 2 minutes with a vet agreeing with my observations.

I do think there should be leeway with experienced owners, breeders, rescue centres etc, I didnt need to go in yesterday and whilst I love my pets and dont begrudge any money spent on them, I do think vets can be a bit naughty with their fees....

 

[lurcherman]

if your happy pay it if your not walk and find another , robbing gits at times,

 

[chelynnah]

I do think there should be leeway with experienced owners, breeders, rescue centres etc, I didnt need to go in yesterday and whilst I love my pets and dont begrudge any money spent on them, I do think vets can be a bit naughty with their fees....

Which is where the 'mutual trust and respect' comes in that I was talking about in my post. But again, in your situation 'damned if you do, damned if you don't'. If they didn't suggest followup, and something bad DID happen you could turn around and lodge a complaint.
I absolutely agree that there ARE vets out there that can be out to pad the books and procedures, but if you really believe your vet is one of them, then I'd change. Again, I feel so blessed with ours. Example, I phoned between the Christmas/New Year break when they were swamped. I wanted a Rx for an eye drop that my girl hadn't had for about 5 years as her tablets weren't working well and I felt she needed a boost. They had seen her recently, and in that discussion we had talked about her tablets. I told them if they 'needed' to see me (for their insurance and prescribing purposes they sometimes DO need to see the animal if it's not a routine refill) I was happy to come in, but I knew they were busy and said we had talked about it recently. They put the Rx up for us no problem. But I wouldn't have objected to going in as she hadn't had it in 5 years. Next time I was in I thanked them, and they said as we had discussed the eye issue within the last 3 months they were able to 'justify' it even though we hadn't discussed that specific treatment recently. Had it been much longer than that the'd have probably needed to see her.

In the end we've built up a good relationship over the past 12 years so there is a bit of give and take. And for that I don't begrudge them a penny. There are vets around here I wouldn't touch with a bargepole because the way they treat their clients IS all about the money. I just feel I need to come to the defense of vets because they all get tarred with the same brush. And being a vet is NOT cheap! And no I'm not a vet, married to a vet or a friend or relative of a vet. But I DO know medical costs and have a semi-medical background.

If you feel that procedures are being unnecessarily 'prescribed' then ask for justification, or ask for a second opinion, or find another vet.

 

[hanneroon]

i took dude to the largest vets around here with practises all over the place and a large surgery, they also host the 24hr emergency vets. I didn't even think about prices or whatever, I kind of assumed i would have access to the most facilities, so i went for that one. I never saw the same one twice, and got such different advice from them each time about his weight and his eyes, that i lost confidence entirely. They were only willing to discuss one thing per visit, and would literally shrug if you asked too many questions.

The crunch came when i took him in out of hours for a large gash on his leg, caused by him getting scared of a car and getting tangled in my legs. Basically i had caught him with my shoe, i told them this, and for the first time ever they took an assesment of his entire body, and asked what each little scratch was and former scars and things, like i had been abusing him! They then took him off and stapled him, and came back and said the staples were sticking out too far (!) and they were going to remove them and stitch him. They also said how brave he was and how they weren't using a muzzle or anaesthetic or anything! I felt like rushing in there and getting him. They made such a bad job of it, i honestly could have done it better myself. When i took him back to get the stitches out, yet another vet saw him, dude was obviously frightened, and this vet followed him round the room going 'give me a kiss, come on give me a kiss!', he's not a kissy dog at all, and i had to ask him to stop it, get on with getting the stitches out, and stop freaking him out. I started on a quest that day to find a new one.

i felt so bad for taking him to the most obvious vets around and not doing my research to find him one on reccomendation. My current one is lovely, knows about hounds, its a very small scruffy practise, and they actually took a lot of time to welcome dude in and make him at ease. Also he referred me straight away to the best person in the south for better examination of dudes eyes. I could have kicked myself for not taking him there first, and for putting up with crappy service. They didn't charge for follow ups, but my current one doesn't charge me at all if there is no treatment or prescription, so i'm confused as to what normal charges should be.

I'd definitley change in this case tho, charging for follow ups is just wrong. This way they make more money if your pet stays ill, I would leg it!!!! Ask around and get one on recomendation, by name, is my advice. It is easy to bow down to their superior knowledge, but if you get a feeling that they don't care, or care more about money, leave. You can then spend that money on someone who does care, and you wont feel like you've been swindled.